the measure of success as a parent

Parenting is a job that comes without any salary or wage, and yet, you are on the job working round the clock – 24/7 none stop. It is the duty of the parent to see to their children’s or ward’s needs, wants and desires, see that they are well fed and clothed, see that they are given the best of education – to the best of their capability. “Children are blessings from God,” but it is the parent duty to nurture that child to become useful to the society and themselves altogether.

Often times, most parent brag about how successful their parenting skills are. This got me wondering, how do you actually measure the success of a parent? Gold is measured in karat, temperature is measured in Celsius, length is measured in centimetre and weight is measured in kilogram. There is a S.I unit for every physical phenomenon in physics, but none for parenting – yet.

READ ON: signs to look out for before getting into marriage

A good parent is one who strives to make decisions in the best interest of the child. Successful parenting is not about achieving perfection. A good parent doesn’t have to be perfect, no one is perfect – no child is perfect either…… But it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work towards being perfect. First set high standard for yourself and then your children. Keeping this in mind is important when we set our expectations both for ourselves and our children.

Parents most times, want their children to be exactly like them to the point that when they look at them, they see their reflection. They go as far as choosing a career path for them, making personal life changing decisions for them – as to who they’ll marry. Grooming their children to follow in their footsteps, “oh, I want my son to take over the family’s business,” or maybe “I want my daughter to be a lawyer or perhaps a medical doctor.”

READ ON: children deserves respect too

Being a lawyer doesn’t necessarily mean your children should be lawyers too, or being an engineer still doesn’t mean they’ll follow in your footsteps. The measure of your parenting skills isn’t in how successful your children turn out to be, but in how the children as individuals turn out to be – there are so many successful individuals who are a result of bad parenting. Fact is the credit of success should be given to the child and not the parenting skills.

Successful parenting isn’t what you learn about your children, it’s not what you give to your children. But what you do with your children, what you leave in your children. It’s more than quality time; it’s more than quantity time. It’s the quantity of quality times; it’s the values you imbibe in your children, it’s as simple as daily routine. The measure of success as a parent is how and what your children turn out to be.